The Great Deku Tree is a recurring character in the Legend of Zelda series. Although the two Great Deku Trees that appear are different, their purpose remains the same: to protect the spirits of the forest.

Contents

Appearances

Shortly before the events of the game, the Great Deku Tree was cursed by the evil Gerudo King of Thieves, Ganondorf, as punishment for not giving him the Kokiri's Emerald. Knowing Link's destiny and that his own time is short, the Great Deku Tree sends Navi the fairy to retrieve the boy. When Link arrives, the Great Deku Tree asks him to break his curse. Although Link braves the dungeon inside the Great Deku Tree and defeats Queen Gohma, it is already too late to save the tree. Before he dies, he tells Link about the Creation of Hyrule by the three goddesses Din, Nayru and Farore, and how they left behind the golden sacred triangles when they departed for the heavens after their labors were completed. He also tells Link of Ganondorf and his intention to steal the Triforce from the Sacred Realm and commands him to never allow Ganondorf to take the Triforce. The Great Deku Tree gives Link the Kokiri's Emerald and tells him to seek out the Princess of Destiny who lives in Hyrule Castle. The Great Deku tree then withers and dies.

After Link completes the Forest Temple and awakens Saria the Sage, he is transported to the Great Deku Tree's Meadow. He is surprised by the little Deku Tree Sprout that pops out of the ground. It is this sprout that tells Link the truth about his past, and reveals that Link is not a member of the Kokiri, but a Hylian who was given to them by his mother, who died soon after. It is possible that this is the same tree Link comes across in The Wind Waker.

A Great Deku Tree, which may or may not be the Deku Tree Sprout from Ocarina of Time, appears again in The Wind Waker. This Great Deku Tree lives in the Forest Haven together with the Koroks, which evolved from the Kokiri after the Great Flood. After Link rescues the Great Deku Tree from ChuChus, the Great Deku Tree gives him the task to rescue a Korok named Makar who has crash-landed in the Forbidden Woods and to aid him, the Great Deku Tree gives him the Deku Leaf. After Link rescues Makar, the Great Deku Tree gives Link Farore's Pearl.

The Great Deku Tree can be climbed using Baba Buds and the Deku Leaf, which allows Link to nearly climb to the top of Forest Haven.

When Link first encounters this Great Deku Tree, he is speaking the Hylian Language. His dialogue is translated into English during the Second Quest.

The Great Deku Tree appears again in Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland. This one is likely not the same Deku Tree as either of the two previous ones. The Deku Tree's appearance is similar to that of the one from Ocarina of Time; he is once again the protector of the forest, which is called the Deku Forest. This may or may not be a version of Kokiri Forest and the Lost Woods, and shares certain characteristics with those areas.

The Deku Tree's heir, who is growing below the Deku Tree, has fallen sick due to all the damage that Humans have done to the forest. The Deku Tree implores Tingle to get Pure Dew to save his Heir. To this end, he allows Tingle to enter the dungeon below him, known as the Deku Temple.

Once Tingle completes that quest, the Deku Tree rewards him thoroughly and then withers up and dies, leaving his Heir to become the next Deku Tree.

This is the only version of the Great Deku Tree known to demand payment in Rupees.

In the manga based off Ocarina of Time, the Deku Tree is first seen telling the story of Hyrule's creation to the Kokiri. He stops Mido and the others from bullying Link and attempting to exclude him from the group. Later that night, he is attacked by Queen Gohma, who appears to merge with him in some fashion. The Deku Tree sends Navi to get help, and eventually all of the Kokiri gather around the Deku Tree and see how he is cursed. Both Mido and Link go into the Deku Tree to attempt to save him, Mido wielding the Kokiri Sword and Link the Fairy Slingshot. However, Link ends up destroying Gohma almost singlehandedly, as Mido becomes too frightened to attack. As in the game, the Deku Tree is only left with enough energy to tell Link about Ganondorf and gift him the Kokiri Emerald. He also requests that Link make a shield from his remains to protect him on his journey.

In one of the manga's side stories, set before the beginning of the story, the Kokiri are celebrating a festival honoring the time of year that the Deku Tree's fruit opens and new fairies are born. The Deku Tree is also revealed to have an evil counterpart called the Baga Tree. Near the end of the side story, the Deku Tree assures the Kokiri that the Skull Kid will survive the wounds inflicted upon him by the Baga Tree earlier in the story. He also reveals that he provided the Deku Stick Link utilizes earlier as a weapon against an attacking Wolfos.

The Great Deku Tree appears as a location and keep in the Faron Wood stage. During The Sorceress of the Woods story scenario, it is attacked by Wizzro's Dark Forces and defended by Lana and her resistance forces in the Faron Woods. During the attack Link, Sheik, and Impa arrive while searching for Zelda and join forces with Lana to learn more about Cia, the leader of the Dark Forces. After his Gibdo Forces are defeated, Wizzro sets the Great Deku Tree on fire, forcing Lana and the Hyrulean Forces to seek the aid of the Great Fairy, who has her fairy minions create a storm cloud that produces rain to put out the fire. Link and Impa defeat Gohma, helping Lana defend the tree.

Additionally it, along with the Deku Tree Sprout, appears frequently in Lana's Spear moveset. Lana can summon the Great Deku Tree during the Spear's special attack and it appears in her victory cutscene for her Spear moveset. A carving of the Great Deku Tree appears on Lana's Level 3 Spear, Faron Spear. Lana's Spear weapons are described as branches from the Great Deku Tree imbued with its power.

Theories

Theory warning: This section contains theoretical information based on the research of one or several other users. It has not been officially verified by Nintendo and its factual accuracy is disputed.

It is speculated that the Great Deku Tree's stump appears in Twilight Princess. This stump is located to the south of the Great Bridge of Hylia in the Lanayru Province. The stump is fairly large, indicating that it may have been a Great Deku Tree. Also, note that there are ChuChus in the Forest Haven in The Wind Waker, as well as Chus appearing underneath the stump in Twilight Princess. It is also speculated that the stump is the dead tree that was above the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, but that seems unlikely since the tree in Ocarina of Time was significantly smaller. An even more widely believed inference is that the Forest Temple of Twilight Princess is in fact the remains of the Great Deku Tree of Ocarina of Time. This can be determined from the temple's location being inside a giant tree the size of the Deku Tree, and the presence of the Kokiri symbol on the doors of the temple just as it was on the doors inside the Deku Tree in Ocarina of Time. However, this theory as flawed as the dungeon in Twilight Princess is much larger than "Inside the Deku Tree" in Ocarina of Time.

Another speculation holds that the Deku Tree's stump is located in Ordon Village. If one compares the map of Ordon to the map of Kokiri Forest, they appear to be the same area, with certain differences (which could be attributed to the passage of time between Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess). Following this map, the clearing where Link meets the Great Deku Tree in Ocarina of Time is the water-hole in the village. In the center of that hole is a protruding structure, from the bottom of the water, which could be the dried-up and crusted remains of the original Great Deku Tree. This theory, however, should be taken with a grain of salt, as the same type of structure can be seen coming from Faron Spring as well.

There is also a theory about the Great Deku Tree appearing in the original The Legend of Zelda. This theory expresses that Level 1 is a dead Deku Tree. That would suggest that there were two Deku Trees at once, as there is another tree Link could enter toward the northeastern corner of the Overworld that contains a Rupee minigame. It should be noted when considering this that two different large, sentient trees existed in the Oracle games.

Since Tingle's Rosy Rupeeland details the beginning of Tingle's story, it quite possibly takes place before Ocarina of Time. However, since Tingle is known to have originated in Termina (see The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask), it is possible this game takes place in Termina, which would make this Deku Tree the Terminian equivalent to Hyrule's Deku Tree.

If that is not the case, and the game takes place in Hyrule, then it is possible that the Deku Tree in this game may be the father of the one in Ocarina of Time, implying that the Deku Tree's Heir seen in this game would later become the Great Deku Tree in Ocarina of Time.